Interest in mechanotransduction, the mechanism by which cells sense and convert mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals, is expanding because of...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• Interest in mechanotransduction,
  • the mechanism by which cells sense and convert
    • mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals,
  • is expanding
    • because of innovative work by biomedical scientists—
      • many of whom,
        • like neuroscience and biophysics expert Elba Serrano,
          • [?] this mechanism to better understand
            • how the body's neurological and
            • biomechanical systems interact.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by telling us about a growing field:

• 'Interest in mechanotransduction'
  • is expanding

Then it defines what mechanotransduction is:

• 'the mechanism by which cells sense and convert mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals'
  • This is basically how cells feel physical forces and turn them into chemical messages

The sentence tells us WHY this interest is expanding:

• 'because of innovative work by biomedical scientists'

After the dash, we get more specific information about these scientists. This is where we have the blank:

• 'many of whom, like neuroscience and biophysics expert Elba Serrano, ______ this mechanism'

Let's look at the choices:

1. is studying (singular)
2. has studied (singular)
3. study (plural)
4. studies (singular)

To see what works here, let's understand the structure!

What do we notice about the structure?

• The phrase after the dash is: 'many of whom...______ this mechanism'
  • 'many of whom' refers back to the biomedical scientists
  • 'many' is the subject of our blank verb
  • 'many' is PLURAL - we're talking about multiple scientists
• Between the subject and verb, there's an example inserted:
  • 'like neuroscience and biophysics expert Elba Serrano'
  • This gives us one specific scientist as an example
  • But this is just inserted information - it's not the subject
• The structure is really: many [example inserted] ______ this mechanism

Since 'many' is plural, we need a plural verb form.

Looking at our choices, only one is plural:

• C. study is the plural form

So the correct answer is C. study because it agrees with the plural subject 'many.'

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Phrases

When a phrase comes between a subject and its verb, the verb must still agree with the actual subject, not with nouns that appear in the intervening phrase.

The Pattern:

• Subject (plural) + [intervening phrase with singular noun] + verb (must be plural)
  • Example: The students, like their teacher, are excited about the field trip.
  • "students" = plural subject
  • "like their teacher" = intervening phrase (contains singular "teacher")
  • "are" = plural verb (agrees with "students," not "teacher")
• Subject (singular) + [intervening phrase with plural noun] + verb (must be singular)
  • Example: The teacher, along with her students, is attending the conference.
  • "teacher" = singular subject
  • "along with her students" = intervening phrase (contains plural "students")
  • "is" = singular verb (agrees with "teacher," not "students")

In this question:

• Subject: "many" (plural - referring to many biomedical scientists)
• Intervening phrase: "like neuroscience and biophysics expert Elba Serrano" (contains singular "Elba Serrano")
• Verb needed: plural form = "study"

The key is to identify the true subject and make sure your verb agrees with it, even when other nouns try to distract you!